


Claustrophobia

by OctolingO



Category: Wheel of Time - Robert Jordan
Genre: F/M, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Rude serving girl, she should be fired, the box
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-03
Updated: 2021-01-03
Packaged: 2021-03-13 14:27:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 803
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28529943
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OctolingO/pseuds/OctolingO
Summary: Rand does not like locked doors.
Relationships: Rand & Aviendha
Comments: 12
Kudos: 6





	Claustrophobia

Rand lay awake on a rather small bed, at least small compared to his typical room, and stared up at the ceiling. He had decided to visit a small village in Andor, he wasn’t even sure exactly where, under a guise of  _ saidin _ that made him look like a simple country boy with a scattering of freckles and dark brown hair. He thought it was fitting, to look like his father—for that was who Tam al’Thor was, regardless of Rand’s heritage—instead of looking like an Aiel. Besides, the face of the Dragon Reborn was probably well known, even in such a tiny settlement. 

Lews Therin was a dull buzz in the back of his head, something about killing and his lost wife, which seemed to be the only two things he ever talked about. His raving was exhausting, in the very least. 

But Rand did not want to be worrying about anything right now. He needed to sleep, as much as a significant part of him wanted to be getting to work. The Dragon Reborn was a busy man, almost so much so that he forgot simple necessities (like sleeping or eating). Min had been a blessing in that regard. 

Min had sadly not come with on this particular outing. Aviendha had accompanied him, and Rand still had no idea how she had even gotten to him, or scraped together the time to come, but he was not going to complain. She was sleeping in the next room over, as there was barely enough room for a one person bed in Rand’s room, and Rand took up the majority of the space on the bed. 

Someone knocked on the door, and Rand sighed as he stood up, rolling his shoulders. 

“Yes?” He said, ignoring making his voice sound amiable. 

“I h-have food, sir.” A girl’s voice stammered.

“I have already eaten today. Go bring your food to someone else.”   
“Sir, I—”

“Did you hear me?” Rand snapped. He could tell he was not behaving as the country boy he was posing as would behave, but he was tired and couldn’t be bothered to deal with a timid serving girl. “I said bring the bloody food to someone else.” There was a soft  _ click _ , and then the girl must have left, for she said nothing more. 

After a couple of minutes, Rand grew tired of laying on his bed. He wanted to sleep, truly he did, but his mind was racing and Lews Therin would not stop talking. He stood, deciding to go and see how Aviendha was doing. It had been a while since the two of them had last talked. 

As he twisted the doorknob, it caught and wouldn’t open. The door was locked, from the outside. The serving girl had clearly not taken kindly to his rude words. Rand tried again, his hand just barely starting to shake, and got the same result. 

Suddenly, he was back in that accursed box, stuck between wishing beyond words to be let out and praying that he would stay in the box, if only because he could avoid a beating. His back felt as if it was on fire, though at this point he could almost ignore it. It was becoming a normal thing for him, as horrible as that was. 

_ Kill them, kill all of them. Split their skulls.  _ Lews Therin raved, and for once Rand did not try to make him stop talking. It was terribly lonely, in his box of agony, and Lews Therin was his only companion. The  _ only _ person he could trust.  _ Kill them, kill them. _

“Kill them.” Rand muttered, nodding as best he could in the position the box forced him into. “We have to kill them.”   
“Rand al’Thor, please.” A voice said, and Rand froze. He recognized that voice, it was Aviendha’s. How could Aviendha be here? He was trapped, in the box. “You are not trapped. Come back to yourself.” Rand blinked a few times, watching as the landscape fuzzed and blurred and turned into that of the room he had been in years ago. 

No, it had been moments ago. And Aviendha was kneeling in front of him, gripping his hands and talking to him. 

“Av… Aviendha?” Rand said, voice hoarse. He coughed. Aviendha smiled at him. 

“You are safe now, Rand.” She said. All of a sudden, what had just happened came rushing back to him. He had never left this room. He had never been returned to the box. 

And just like that, Rand was crying. 

He didn’t know why, whether it was simply the emotions he had been suppressing catching up to him, or relief at not being imprisoned again, or something completely different, but he was crying, and Aviendha was hugging him, and things were going to be okay. 

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [You Know](https://archiveofourown.org/works/28684248) by [aptasi](https://archiveofourown.org/users/aptasi/pseuds/aptasi)




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